Culture and Leadership Subgroup

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Leading change, strengthening culture.

The Culture and Leadership Subgroup is one of four implementation subgroups, driving delivery of the NMT Recommended Actions at pace. It focuses on improving organisational culture and strengthening professional leadership to create compassionate, safe, and sustainable working environments for nursing and midwifery staff across Scotland.

On this page you'll find

Overview of the NMT Culture and Leadership Subgroup
A Message from the Culture and Leadership Subgroup Co-Chairs
Culture and Leadership Recommended Actions (RA)
Culture and Leadership Subgroup Membership

Have a question or feedback?

If you have any questions about the information provided, or feedback on this website, please contact the Nursing and Midwifery Policy Team at the Scottish Government NMTenquiries@gov.scot .

Overview of the NMT Culture and Leadership Subgroup

Banner including a nursing professional smiling. Text reads: Culture and Leadership

The Culture and Leadership Subgroup is focused on strengthening organisational culture and professional leadership across nursing and midwifery in Scotland.

The group is driving the implementation of recommendations designed to create compassionate, psychologically safe workplaces and ensure staff have a strong voice in shaping care. Drawing on insights from the Listening Project, the subgroup works with the Scottish Government and key stakeholders to embed sustainable improvements, measure impact, and support a positive, future‑focused workforce culture.

The Culture and Leadership Subgroup, co-chaired by Colin Poolman, Gillian McAuley, Sam Thomas and Donna Akhal, will focus on supporting longer-term workforce sustainability through improved culture and leadership for the Nursing and Midwifery professions in Scotland.

Their role is to oversee delivery, offer direction and ultimately enable implementation of transformative, future-proofed solutions to address the following NMT Recommended Actions.

Colin Poolman, Subgroup Co-Chair

Gillian McAuley, Subgroup Co-Chair

Sam Thomas, Subgroup Co-Chair

Donna Akhal, Subgroup Co-Chair

Message from the Co-Chairs

"Organisational culture has a significant impact on retention of nursing and midwifery staff. As Co-Chairs of the Culture and Leadership Subgroup we are committed to working together to ensure the Taskforce recommendations around culture and leadership are implemented and embedded across our health and care service, and that they make a real difference to the lives of nursing and midwifery staff and students.

The Taskforce represents a unique opportunity to reset and create workplaces that have a compassionate, nurturing and psychologically safe culture. Professional nursing and midwifery leadership is essential in improving and shaping the culture and giving staff a voice in influencing decisions on how care is structured and delivered.

The subgroup is focused on the delivery of recommendations that will improve the working environment for nursing and midwifery staff across Scotland and establish a solid foundation for the workforce of the future.

Through the Listening Project, nursing and midwifery staff, students and academics helped shape the recommendations. We will establish mechanisms to measure and evaluate impact and to report back on progress to those who took the time to share their experiences and views.

We are pleased to be working with The Scottish Government and key professional stakeholders to deliver this significant piece of work.”

Culture and Leadership Recommended Actions

Below you'll find an overview of the NMT Recommended Actions being progressed by the Culture and Leadership Subgroup.

Number	Recommended Actions - Culture and Leadership Subgroup
22	Building on existing good practice and evidence and through collaborative design, the Scottish Government, partners and stakeholders will develop a culture assessment tool for all teams to use in a psychologically safe way, across all health and care settings.
23	Employers will test and refine the culture assessment tool with nursing and midwifery teams.
24	Employers will implement the tool across multi-disciplinary teams to develop a consistent approach to improve organisational culture at a local level.
25	The Scottish Government, partners and stakeholders will develop a pathway to enable teams to: 1) access appropriate support for the assessment process and 2) Access support to implement required improvements.
26	Employers will ensure that nurses and midwives are fully supported and have appropriate opportunities to reflect and analyse traumatic and difficult situations they have experienced through responsive and well publicised local support channels.
27	The Scottish Government will explore a consistent approach to capturing information to allow for a better understanding of why nurses and midwives choose to leave their professions.
28	The Scottish Government, partners and stakeholders will ensure nurses and midwives can access sustainable and progressive opportunities to influence policy, practice, national and local strategy to achieve change.
29	The Scottish Government, partners and stakeholders will enable practicing nurses and midwives to participate in leadership teams across health and care settings to allow direct input to strategy, decision making and planning.
30	Employers, the Scottish Government, and leadership will support staff to act with autonomy, within their scope of practice, maximising their knowledge, skills and competence to influence and participate in local and national decision making on all issues that impact on their effectiveness.
31	Organisations and employers will commit to sustaining compassionate leadership, which evidence shows must be a critical component of every nurse and midwife’s role.
32	The Scottish Government, partners and stakeholders will support employers to establish sustainable leadership learning and development pathways and support NMW leadership development from the beginning of career across all healthcare settings.
33	Employers will promote development of leadership capacity and capability, and a talent management and succession planning approach covering all roles.
34	NES and employers will ensure a safe and supportive environment is in place in all health and care settings which empowers all nurses and midwives to develop and demonstrate compassionate leadership skills. Establish and implement robust processes to ensure staff can access and develop their leadership skills that build on existing policy and guidance.
35	An employer commitment for nursing and midwifery staff to have protected time for a model of supervision which meets the individual’s needs. This should include (but is not limited to) • restorative supervision, • peer support, and • reflective practice. The model should incorporate provision for this to be in a safe space and at a time that is right for them; particularly following traumatic events.